In what could be one of the most interesting campaigns for the U.S. House in 2006, The BRAD BLOG can now reveal that computer programmer turned electronic vote-rigging software whistleblower Clint Curtis is officially planning a run for the U.S. Congressional seat in Florida's 24th District.

The 24th Congressional District seat is currently occupied by Rep. Tom Feeney, the very man who Curtis has alleged once asked him to create a vote-rigging software prototype program back when both men worked for the software firm Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) in Oviedo, Florida.

Curtis' startling allegations that then-State Senator Feeney had sought to have such a program built was first broken nationally by The BRAD BLOG in a story based on his sworn affidavit [PDF] which "rocked the vote from Tallahassee to Capitol Hill" when it was originally published in early December of 2004. Indeed, it was so popular that it took down our blog entirely for four straight days.

Since filing his original allegations, Curtis has given stunning sworn, video-taped testimony about the matter to members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in a public hearing, and later, successfully passed a polygraph test in regard to the charges.

Feeney, who was once Jeb Bush's running-mate during his first ill-fated run for Governor in 1994, was also the Speaker of the Florida Legislature who infamously promised to award Florida's electoral votes to George W. Bush during the 2000 Election Debacle --- no matter what the state Supreme Court would ultimately decide about the matter. He later went on to run for the U.S. Congress in 2002 in Florida's conservative 24th District, which is said to have been carved out expressly by Feeney for himself during his time in the statehouse.

Rep. Feeney now sits on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and continues to face charges of ethical transgressions concerning his conduct during his tenure as a U.S. Congressman where was recently reported to be Tom DeLay's #1 supporter. Said Feeney at a "Salute to Tom DeLay" last May, "Tom DeLay is the most effective leader the House has seen in 50 years."

Curtis, in preparing for a run his against Feeney, (who has been caught by The BRAD BLOG in more than a few "contradictions" over the time we've been covering this story,) has set up a campaign website to support his potential run at www.ClintCurtis.com where he is currently welcoming much-needed contributions and supporters.

In addition to the vote-rigging charges, Curtis also alleged that YEI employed an illegal Chinese alien involved in placing "wire-tapping" modules into software created by the company who had top-secret security contracts with NASA, the Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT), amongst other clients. Feeney was both general counsel and registered lobbyist for YEI for years during that time, even while he was Speaker of Florida's Legislature, where he also faced ethics charges during his tenure.

One of the illegal aliens at YEI reported by Curtis to the Florida's Inspector General's office in 2001 as working at the company and said to have been placing the "wire-tapping" modules into software before it shipped, was arrested in 2004 after a four-year sting, and has pled guilty to charges related to espionage in attempting to illegally ship Hellfire anti-tank missile chips to China. Feeney himself just returned from yet another trip to Asia, this time touring China's space facility where he reportedly called for "more balanced relations" with the Communist nation.

Charges that Curtis had made concerning over-billing of YEI contracts with FDOT have also since been confirmed by the Florida Inspector General's office who finally completed their report on Curtis' case in early 2005.

Feeney, who claimed, as late as February of 2005 that he had ended his relationship with YEI once he reached the U.S. House in 2002, was revealed by The BRAD BLOG to have been the honoree at a private party/reception given by company owners --- and continuing large contributors to Feeney's campaign --- Dr. and Mrs. Yang in 2003. As well, Feeney's campaign headquarters for his 2004 campaign, during which he ran unopposed, was housed in YEI's main headquarters building in Oviedo. Feeney's campaign website still lists YEI's address --- 1420 Alafaya Trail --- as the place to contact his campaign.

Unlike Curtis, Feeney has not taken a polygraph test in relation to his denial of Curtis' charges.

As our coverage of the Clint Curtis story has been extensive over the last 14 months, we'll refer you to this Quick Summary of the main points in his extraordinary story, as well as this Index of Key Articles, for more details in the continuing saga. We promise there is more stunning revelations to be found there, including some startling details of the mysterious death of the original Florida Inspector General's investigator assigned to Curtis' case.

Beyond the Curtis-related allegations, Feeney has been described as one of the "13 Most Ethically Challenged Members of Congress" in light of his lobbyist and foreign-agent sponsored trips such as his Tom DeLay/Jack Abramoff golf junket to St. Andrews, Scotland (yes, he was right there along with them) and elsewhere. Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo described Feeney just last month as a "bamboozler" for his attempts at playing both sides of the field concerning his vote on new rules which DeLay was pushing through the House Ethics Committee. When asked how he voted on the new rules, as attempted by DeLay, Feeney tried to avoid giving an answer to the media by saying there was no actual vote on the matter. Despite the fact that there was.

Feeney's history as a bamboozler seems to be becoming legendary.

Curtis, formerly a "life-long Republican," became a self-described "Conservative Democrat" after his various disturbing dealings with Feeney and friends. He will be making his first public announcement about his intentions to form an exploratory campaign at a local Democratic party gathering at the Cocoa Civic Center in Brevard County this Wednesday evening.

Before facing Feeney directly, however, Curtis will have to survive a primary race against Dr. Andy Michaud who has reportedly pledged to spend quite a bit of his own money in order to face one of the most effective fundraisers in Congress.

We also imagine Michaud will be seeing a sudden influx of financial support in the days ahead from the many supporters of Feeney who, we have a feeling, would rather not have to face Curtis in the General Election next November.

Therefore fundraising from across the nation, Curtis tells The BRAD BLOG as part of a "Campaign Q&A" with him which we will publish here tomorrow, will be key.

"As with most battles of good vs. evil, good can only win if it receives sufficient help," says Curtis. "If my campaign does not receive both unprecedented financial support as well as huge volunteer efforts, this could be a very difficult quest to fulfill."

Difficult indeed. Curtis who, unlike both Michaud and Feeney, has never participated in a political campaign before, will have his work cut out for him. But he's faced more daunting --- and terrifying --- fights in the past. His tireless years-long effort to hold accountable those who he sees as having committed wrong-doing against this country has not come at a small cost. But that struggle may serve him well in his "good vs. evil battle."

Curtis explains that he feels he has little choice at this point but to enter the battle, and in discussing it, he expresses a sentiment heard all too rarely from Democrats these days: "I am now convinced that fearing a loss is not a valid reason for never entering the fight."

So Clint, are you excited about running? This is sure going to be the most interesting race! Feeney will be swimming upstream trying to defend the fact he asked to create vote tampering software and all sorts of things......this will definitely be one of those rare moments...

This is great news.I respect Clint Curtis for his bravery, and speaking up for all Americans. I put his election site in my favorites and will be sure to send as much as I can to get this honorable man elected. This is the kind of people we need running and winning to put INTEGRITY back in our government. Go Chris,wish I lived in Florida so I could volunteer to help get you elected,But alas I can only send you some moolah. Hope it helps! Thanks for fighting!

You know what? This is a nightmare come true for Feeney. Can you think of anything he fears more than Clint Curtis running against him? I mean, we couldn't dream up something like this. This puts to bed any funny suicide note attempts to "off" Clint. He's put himself in the limelight too much. (see Lemme...) A wise move, by Clint Curits...a nightmare-come-true for Feeney. This is unimaginable poetic justice, and great entertainment! Unbelievable! We're set for entertainment from today until Nov. 2006! Wow! Great news!

Brad Blog will go through the roof, because Clint is "Brad's Guy"...no one can make that claim, except Brad. That's how I first wandered upon this site!

It's a WIN-WIN situation. I don't think Feeney would even attempt to hack this vote! Clint should say, "So, Tom, ya gonna hack this vote, too???" It has entertainment written all over it!

I agree with Doug E. A primary with Michaud will just be a waste of energy(and money) and an exercise in preaching to the choir. But a primary with Feeney will expose his ass to his own party and the press pays more attention to the corporate party. It would also help split the vote between real conservatives and sheeple. His ties to Delay and Bush are an extra layer beyond the vote fraud issue.

I just read his website! It's great but if you get to the issues, he is clearly a democrat....no way he can take ANY Republican votes away from Feeney. We all know Republicans all vote like lemmings....
They don't want to hear the truth about health care, social security or Iraq!!!

Clint will most certainly run and win as a Democrat...they will be on fire for him!

Shine the light for all to see and volunteers will give their time. Get young Americans involved and you will win. Then again maybe you should play this out Bushit administration style. White wash the truth about everything and appeal to anti-abortion anti-gay repukians and then hack your way into victory. Since the Bushit rusters in power claim that our election system is good to go and have no incline to fix the flawed electronic voting system that enabled Bush to win his 2nd illegitimate presidential election victory even though he LOST, pocket contributions into a secret Swiss bank account and use the funds to send random legislators on vacation in exchange for political favors. Now that's the American way.
Then issue the following statement:
I have declared my candidacy in opposition to the CLMP.
Stooge reporter: What is the CLMP sir? Aren't you running against the Republican party?
"The Corrupt Lying Murderers Party is the Bushit eh-hem i mean Republican Party. (No smile required because your not in Washington yet.)

Comment #21 Note to trolls: This Grizzly mutherfcker does not stand for any political party least the to weak to speak Demo-slack party. Also i left out the words PRO-WAR "repukians" (as in the Bushit Iraqi war on terror since the country of IRAQ had nuthin (-0-) to do with Bin Laden or 9/11 attack which i maintain was caused by the Bushit administration. Go try and investigate the collapse of building #7 of the World Trade Center or the Shrub drone that hit the Pentagon if you want some answers. So before that giant dental floss thong rides all the way up your big ace, please acknowledge this addition.

Thank you for your courage and conviction and putting it all on the line like this. I can't wait to hear what your platform will be.

Having first hand knowledge of Feeney's crimes will give you a unique advantage in your campaign. You can speak from a place of certainty and lay it out before the voters for them to decide who they'd like representing them in Washington.

More Americans need to stand up like this and engage these crooks on head-on. I hope it's not too late to stop the criminals from using the "Black Box Advantage" they've set up. Do they use Diebold machines in the counties where the votes in your election will be counted?

Best of luck to you Clint! I admire your courage and audacity and look forward to following your campaign closely. Be sure to challenge Mr. Feeney to some debates. The theater of this will be awesome.

No other method has served to get Feeney to face Curtis' charges in an open forum. I had suggested this long ago, and now I see it's a possibility.

Frankly, I fear for Mr. Curtis' planes to operate properly. I consider this to be a serious, dangerous (albeit necessary) bend in the path Clint has found himself on. These are not nice people he is up against. They are unusually treacherous power-mongers.

I hope the Democratic power structure of Florida gets behind this 100%, to help keep the other side of this from painting Clint Curtis as a crackpot. You can rest assured that they will come out, with both barrels blasting to try and destroy Curtis' credibility in any way they can.

Mr. Curtis is in my prayers. I have great hope for him to succeed in exposing the crimes of Tom Feeney, if not winning the election outright. He is, indeed, putting it all on the line.

how the hell is feeney even allowed to run for office with all these unanswered questions about his election rigging and integrity...but then the whitehouse, congress, the senate, are full of idiots without integrity...i knew there were heroes like clint out there, and these are just the people we need to lead this country out of this corrupt republican era in history...GO CLINT...!!

Couple questions... How long did it take Curtis to come forward with the information on Feeney? It may not be an issue now, but it could be if he gets elected. Was he aware of what he was doing and did he have prior knowledge?

Last but not least... he better watch out or he'll end up like Paul Wellstone or Mel Carnahan.

You can bet that the big guns in the Dem party will NOT get behind Chris. I just read in The New York Times that paul Hackett has dropped out of the race in Ohio because of pressure from Schumer and Reid. They don't like his independence or his truthtelling. The very things we want in our candidates are the very things the Dem Party doesn't. I am so pissed and frustrated with these assh*les! They just want to keep the status quo,They like being LOSERS! We need to take this country back now,before we can't! GO CHRIS, we have your back,just remember to watch yours.These are very dangerous people!

For Infidel: When Clint first went public about the software prototype, several years had passed. The first question, not surprisingly was, "Why did you wait this long to come forward?"

Clint's answer was clear and logical. He didn't think the program could be used for nefarious purposes because the source code would reveal fraud easily. Only after a court ruled that source code was proprietary to the company designing the software did he realize what had happened. He had unwittingly enabled the theft of the 2000 election.

Not only a logical explanation, but a brave one. He might have been arrested for fraud himself. I can't prove it, but I suspect the reason he wasn't arrested is that his defense in court would not only have convinced a jury, but would have swayed public opinion at the same time.

I just hope to GOD that you get the support this effort deserves. I would say the 24th/Florida is the most important congressional election in quite awhile, and would expect you to find support coming from all over the country!

I would like to see Brad make available Clint Curtis t-shirts and other typical campaign paraphernalia, to help raise the funds needed.

You are what first brought me to this blog, and I want to see this succeed more than anything else I can think of in American politics. Good luck, Clint, and watch your back. You, more than anyone else, know you're up against some extremely ruthless people.

Everytime I get the opportunity I put up Clints comments on issues and make a plea to help him with donations if thats all they can do. I have grown to respect him and his courage and just wish I lived where he is running. Good luck Clint. You are doing the right thing.
Doug Bronaugh

The legal structure of our congress does not support a multi-party system, and is designed for a two party system. It is a winner take all affair.

This is not good, but it is reality.

Under the law of the House and Senate, "the Senate divides its tasks among 20 committees, 68 subcommittees, and 4 joint committees" ... "The chair of each committee and a majority of its members represent the majority party. The chair primarily controls a committeeĺs business" (link here).

Take an example where republicans win 30 seats, independents win 28 seats, greens win 29 seats, and democrats win 13 seats. We can now easily see that this will not work well.

The republicans with 30 seats end up as the majority party. Remember that the majority party and the majority are not the same thing in our system. The majority, in this example, is 70 votes (greens, indys, and dems), but the majority party is the republicans because they got those 30 seats.

Therefore, they get the committee chair on each and every committee, and they get the majority number of members in each and every committee of congress.

So, in our system, the majority of seats would be governed by the minority republican 30 seats.

Anyone see any way to improve this?

I do. The polls show that the body politic favors democrats in the upcoming election, and voting democrats into the majority is the public will.

We would have an easier time prevailing upon them to change the rules.

It should be pro rata based upon percentage of seats.

Committees should be distributed to all parties based upon percentage of seats in a pro rata configuration.

Otherwise, when independents, greens, democrats, and other parties fight each other the republicans always remain the majority party and therefore always control the congress.